Large Scale Central

Manufacturing Date

I have purchased an new USA Trains GP38-2 and was wondering if there is a date of manufacture stamp somewhere? I have not looked under the hood so to speak and am just curious.

You could always ask Shawn :http://www.usatgscalegroup.com/phpbb/index.php?sid=b9060dbdfa3de3826aad97ff538e538c

Nope, nothing like Aristo.

Some of the USAT diesels did have early and late versions. Normally you could determine this by the voltage of the lights, whether they were 18v or 5v from a regulated supply.

Another indicator of the age is the knurling on the ends of the half axles, but you have to pull an axle off to see this.

Greg

Probably the easiest way to determine late mfg date is by the smoke apparatus. Late had a fan. The change to the fan was usually made at the same time as the lights and the axle changes.

LGB and Aristo are much easier for dates.

On Aristo look for the Aristo logo with the year.

LGB is more exact, the first and last digit on the gold sticker is the year, 4th and 5th digit are the month and the day is always 01 (2nd/3rd digit).